If you want to continue practising yoga throughout your pregnancy and into the first 18 months of motherhood — or if you’re a prenatal yoga...

Once upon a time, pregnant women were treated like delicate china dolls. They were expected to sit back, take it easy and not exercise too much because they might hurt themselves or the developing baby.

No more. Take Katie Findlay, who worked out weekly with Andrea Kotyk, a personal trainer specializing in pre- and post-natal fitness. She ran until she was 24 weeks pregnant and then, with Kotyk’s guidance, continued to walk, lift weights and do cardio, squats, lunges and core exercises on the stability ball until her due date.

"I was still walking the stairs behind the Calgary Curling Club on my lunch hours until I was about 61/2 months pregnant," says the 30-year-old Calgarian, now the mother of a year-old daughter. "I had a dream pregnancy. I felt fantastic throughout."

Findlay’s family physician told her "no marathons" but, given her good health and normal pregnancy, said she could maintain her high level of fitness, so long as she listened to her body.

"I wish more women would break through the barriers. Being fit makes so much difference in labour, delivery and in bouncing back after," says Kotyk, a Can-Fit Pro certified fitness instructor and co-owner of Kotyk Athletics. "It’s so much better than sitting around for nine months."

Mounting research indicates women with normal, healthy pregnancies can and should exercise moderately most days of the week, says Dr. Laura Bennion, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Calgary.

High-risk activities such as scuba diving or skydiving are verboten. Downhill skiing, horseback riding and cycling are OK in the early stages of pregnancy, but must be avoided in the second and third trimesters once a woman’s body and centre of gravity change and balance becomes an issue, says Bennion, a family physician who works out of the Low Risk Maternity Clinic. Likewise, running is fine, but long-distance training depends on the individual and her doctor.

How hard can you go? In the past, expectant women were told not to exceed a heart rate of 140 beats per minute while exercising.

Bennion says this rule doesn’t account for different fitness levels and instead recommends the simple talk test: "You should be able to have a comfortable conversation without having to stop and sputter out your words."

For years, women were told to avoid lying on their backs because the weight of the uterus can compress the inferior vena cava, causing a drop in blood pressure and reduced blood flow to the placenta.

"We still recommend that after 16 weeks, but the chances of have a drop in blood pressure in 30 seconds while you do a bench press are low," says Bennion, who offers a rule of thumb: If you feel dizzy, shaky or like you might pass out, sit up or turn over.

"You won’t do that again twice."

Pregnant women need to stay properly hydrated and should be cautious of exercising in the heat, says Colleen Parsons, director of health and wellness programs at the U of C: making prenatal yoga a better choice than hot yoga.

There are multiple benefits that come with regular prenatal exercise. It helps control mood swings, fatigue, nausea, back pain and many of the "other symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy," says Pam David, a Can-Fit Pro certified fitness instructor with Fitmom, a licensed pre-and post-natal exercise program offered in Calgary.

"And strong core muscles will help to push that baby out."

Bennion notes physically fit women feel empowered, making them better able to withstand the mental and physical rigours of labour.

Exercise also helps a woman maintain a healthy weight in pregnancy. That’s important, because controlling maternal weight gain protects both mom and baby against gestational diabetes and future obesity.

"Some of the research coming out of the Human Performance Lab 1/8at the U of C shows 3/8 there’s a higher incidence of obesity and diabetes in the child when the mother is obese or has gestational diabetes," says Parsons.

(Of interest is that the myth of eating for two has fallen by the wayside. Bennion says a pregnant woman needs only 300 extra calories a day, say a muffin and a glass of milk, or half a sandwich and an orange.)

For a long time, doctors thought exercise resulted in small babies. Not true, says Bennion. In fact, women who exercise in pregnancy have normal-weight babies. And there’s evidence those who exercise regularly and moderately in the first trimester may have larger babies.

"We think that’s because if your heart is pumping hard, you’re delivering lots of oxygen and rich nutrients to the placenta. It helps your baby to grow big and strong," she explains.

Parsons says that once the baby’s born, a woman get moving again as soon as she feels comfortable (assuming she’s had an uncomplicated vaginal birth; recovery can be longer with a caesarean section).

But, she cautions that any exercise with impact should wait six weeks, given the laxity of ligaments due to hormones. "Keeping the impact low is critical."

Trainer Andrea Kotyk, 32, credits fitness for a "lightening fast" post-natal recovery from her own two pregnancies. With her doctor’s blessing she return to training six weeks postpartum.

"It helped a lot with postpartum depression, the lows that can come with being tired, being a new mom and being overwhelmed. I attribute my survival to that," Kotyk says. "It made a world of difference."

Following her doctor’s advice, Findlay waited six to eight weeks before resuming postpartum workouts with Kotyk -which she says have been a huge boon to her health.

"I’m four pounds less now than I was pre-pregnancy. It’s given me back my shape and my fitness."

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